Unmanned truck rolls into river

A man who failed to set the emergency brake on his vehicle wound up with his truck submerged in the Arkansas River Wednesday morning.

The 1996 Mazda truck was legally parked in front of a home in the 200 block of Howard Street when the unoccupied vehicle rolled north several feet before going down a bluff and into the river just east of the Fourth Street bridge, according to police spokesman Sgt. Eric Gonzales.

The truck, whose owner was not identified, skirted a metal barricade that sits at the north end of the block-long Howard Street in the Blocks neighborhood.

The truck traveled down the embankment, across the river trail and through a pair of cottonwood trees into the river at the Pueblo Whitewater Park.

Gonzales said a man sitting at the park witnessed the incident and called police about 8:40 a.m.

Initially, officials thought there might be someone in the truck, which quickly was submerged in the murky water.

A Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Services Bureau dive team was called in to assist with searching for the truck, which was determined to be unoccupied, according to fire department spokesman Woody Percival.

Onlookers gathered on the river bluff and along the river trail to watch as divers searched the water, and tow truck crews eventually were able to pull it to shore.

No one was injured.

Gonzales said the truck owner likely will be cited for failing to set the parking brake.